Sunday, June 17, 2018

Magpie Shrike

When I started studying the local birds prior to arriving
here in South Africa, it just seemed like there were a lot of birds with very
long tails. That is very exciting stuff, as that makes for some incredible
photos. Unfortunately, most of that species all lose that long beautiful tail
after the breeding season. There are a few exceptions to that, with the Green
Wood Hoopoe, the Scimitarbird, and this bird, the Magpie Shrike. Residents of
the open grassy areas, they alight on the top of small dead trees, stumps and
open branches, in order to hunt from there for flying or crawling bugs.